Sand Rail With AMG M113K Motor AEM Infinity ECU Dyno Tune
Basically this is a stock Mercedes/AMG Supercharged 5.4 Liter V8 in a sand rail chassis. The headers add some additional HP along with the AEM Infinity ECU. The rail is being tuned here on the RRE Dynapack Chassis Dyno by Sam C “icantunafish” The motor runs on California 91 octane pump gas with the Infinity ECU controlling the 50% water and 50% methanol injection.
The AEM Fail safe gauge keeps tabs on the flow rate and shuts the meth party down if the flow is out of range. If the meth nozzle is clogged of the pump is dying, then the flow will be low and the fail safe cuts in. If a meth pressure hose were to pop off or otherwise spring a leak then the fail safe would see too high a flow and shut things down also.
Suffering From A Loss?
Matt Farah from The Smoking Tire put up this excellent PSA for those suffering from loss.
Yes that is Tony Bird’s 1G AWD!
Mitsubishi Owner’s Day 2014
Road Race was excited to get involved with Mitsubishi Owner’s Day once again.
We hosted the dyno contest for the day, and were running cars on and off the dyno the whole time.
RRE Family driver Coco Zurita was in the booth, signing autographs and talking to fans all day, alongside RRE model Erica Ocampo. There was a little something for everybody, and we stayed busy all day.
Thanks again to our sponsors Turbo by Garrett and Turbosmart for helping us out with awesome raffle prizes!
Mo Boost – Nic’s 95 Talon TSi
Long time RRE customer Nic sent me a pic of his personalized Indiana license plate with the RRE plate frame on it. I asked for a little more info on the car and Nic sent me this:
Hi Mike,
Here are some pics and info on my 95 Eagle Talon TSi. Some of my mods include:
MHI Big 16G turbo
Injen Intake
Punishment Racing FMIC/piping
3” Exhaust (Apex’i Dunk cat-back)
Mishimoto Aluminum Radiator
255lph Walbro Fuel Pump
AEM Big Rotor upgrade
NGK Iridium Plugs
NGK Wires
CX Racing Fuel Pressure Regulator
H&R lowering springs
Tokico adjustable struts
NXS Manual Boost Controller
Auto Meter Phantom Gauges (A/F, Boost, Oil Temp, Oil Pressure, Water Temp)
Wings West Aggressor front bumper
Z3 Fenders
18” Nippon Racing Wheels
HKS Turbo Timer
Kenwood touch screen head unit
Optima Yellow Top battery
Custom fabricated wing
There are a few other goodies here and there, but that is the big stuff. Thanks for supporting DSMers for so many years. I’ll be rooting for the RRE team when I head down to Road Atlanta for Formula Drift next month.
Thanks,
Nic Harnishfeger
Evansville, IN
Dr Alex’s EVO 6 – Brake Test Day at ACS
We took the Dr Alex EVO 6 with the new Varis widebody to a Speed Ventures track day at Auto Club Speedway this last weekend to dial in the Stoptech Trophy Brakes a bit. This is the first full run with the car with the Muellerized Ohlins, 18×11 Volk SSL wheels and Hankook tires. The car has the OBP Motorsports pedal box with tandem master cylinders and cockpit adjustable front to rear brake bias.
John Mueller (Muellerized…) was just minding his own business under orders doing some shake down runs and a beautiful Porsche Cup Car was right there in front of him. Go for a lap with John on the low boost setting. In the video all you hear is the Porsche revving and shifting. I wish EVOs would sound that good going just as fast :-)
Show-n-Shine @ Nitto Tire – Auto Enthusiast Day
A cold and rainy day couldn’t stop us from having fun at the Nitto Tire Auto Enthusiast Day held at the California Speedway this weekend. Warm clothes, great music by Jarod De Anda (Voice of FD) helped us to keep our spirits up make the best of the weather :-) . It was great to support all our friends (rain or shine). RRE model Ashley Clark braved the wind and cold to help us out.
We had Roy’s Godzilla GTR, Coco Zurita’s EVO X, Matt Dennison’s EVO 9 all on display. Also From Rob Tallini’s RRM next door we had the Fiat Abarth for people to check out and of course the RRM Jeep Rubicon on hand incase the weather got out of control!
RRE License Plate Frame Saves the Day :-)
Customer Story of the Year:
Almost had a speeding ticket… but that RRE license plate holder saved me! :) I was driving my EVO on my way to San Diego early in the morning and it was still pitch black. I didn’t know I was being followed by a patrol officer.
The highway was clear so I was driving around the 90’s trying to make it to work early. So there he was out of nowhere and asked me to pullover and get off the road. (I was like s**t!… please don’t get a ticket before deployment…)
Officer: “You know why I pulled you over?”
Me: “No Sir”
Officer: “I was pacing your car and you were going about 90+”
Me: “I didn’t realize I was going fast Sir… but I was driving very safe with the flow of traffic” (getting nervous and still hoping to not get a ticket)
Officer: “I see that you have a Road Race Engineering license plate cover… what do you have done in your car?”
Me: “Just an intake, and exhaust” (asking myself are the rest of my mods illegal?) (even more nervous now)
Officer: “How much power you pushing?”
Me: “Just only about 330ish” (thinking to myself, I shouldn’t tell him I’m pushing 390… because I’ll sell myself out)
Officer: “Didn’t they tune your car in the dyno? Who tuned your car? Was it Mike? Scot? Sam?
Me: (speechless) (thinking to myself what the f****! Am I in trouble now!?)
Officer: “I used to have a DSM and RRE is my shop ”
Me: “Oh wow! That’s awesome!”
Officer: “When are you going back to RRE? Tell Sam and the crew that I said hello” “Drive Safe!”
Me: (just happy and thinking what the f**** just happened… this cop is awesome!)
My car is currently in a storage now and I will bring it in after I get back from deployment.
Thank you Mike!
Dr. Alex’s EVO 6 SEMA Varis Widebody Project – Getting Started!
Here are some pics of the work that we are getting started on here. Varis carbon wide body kit, Stoptech Trophy Brakes need some bigger wheels so that means we’ll need a wider body and chassis clearance. The interior will get new seats and a full detailing. The car already hit the dyno for a retune after the motor was all broken in.
Before Pic (remember this skinny little plain EVO 6 so you can compare it to the finished monster)
All stripped down.
Initial fitting of the body work, Here it is on 9.5″ Volk RE-30s. The eventual wheels will be Volk TE-37 Super Lap 18″ x 11″
little stock brakes and the Rally Ohlins will be replaced later with Stoptech Trophy big brake kit and Muellerized Ohlins Road and Track coil overs.
Full Photo Gallery:
Summer Project
Our summer project. Dr. Alex’s EVO 6
+ Varis Wide body Kit
+ AEM’s new Infinity ECU
= Win
It started with a quest for bigger brakes. Bigger brakes need bigger wheels. Bigger wheels need a wider body. Then of course with all the brakes, tire and aero he’ll need more power! This stuff is all a slippery slope to going broke :-) What a country we live in! We’ll keep updated with pics throughout the project.
It All Comes Down To Time
Not enough, too much, life is about quality time. Chrono is Greek for “time”. Jin’s 2013 EVO X GSR tends to shorten the time it takes to get from Point A to Point B. He has simple mods, AEM CARB legal intake and a RRE Stealth cat back exhaust. The GSR is running a safe track tune at 290 whp on the RRE AWD Dynapack dyno.
When In Rome…
One of our 4G Eclipse customers in Rome asked for some Road/Race stickers with his order for springs and exhaust. He was nice enough to send us a pic!
1G GSX – E85 – Sam Dyno Tuning With DSM Link
Sam here at the shop tuning with DSM Link on Kris’ 1G GSX track car is running a used stock 6 bolt long block from a used 1G 140k mile auto DSM he picked up. FP 3065 (GT35R-ish sized) bolt on style turbo. The fuel pressure was dropping big time once the boost got up past 30 psi. With a Walbro 255 lph pump not keeping up, with the car still on the dyno we put in a Walbro 400 lph fuel pump, reset the base pressure and Sam went at it some more. That fixed the fuel pressure problem. There is a bit of surge on the spool up, nothing we could do about it. It is just there on a longer pull on the dyno.
And It’s Andre’s EVO IX For The Win!
Andre was in the shop the other day for some service work and sporting his RRE license plate frame. Here is a pic of his new personalized license plate on his super clean Electric Blue EVO IX.
LEET Roll Cage Build – Part 3 – Prep and Paint
We last left off on this roll cage build with finishing all the welding. Now it is time for the cleanup, prep and paint.
All unnecessary seam sealer and sound deadening gets removed to lighten things as possible. We trimmed off any brackets and tabs. Most small holes get covered and smoothed over with metal tape for a cleaner look.
All the bare steel on the roll cage and welds needed to be cleaned and prepped with a light acid wash.
Everything gets masked off nicely. The floor gets cleaned and roughed up with sandpaper and a Scotchbrite. Blow all the (more…)
Countdown To Mitsubishi Owner’s Day 2012
It is coming up quick! MOD 2012, the largest gathering of Mitsubishis anywhere in the US. RRE will be there again this year with our race cars and some customer cars. We’ll have product displays and the RRE AWD Dynapack Dyno. The show is free to get in. They have free food, a crazy raffle with tons of giveaways. All your friends will be there.
We’ll be running the dyno contest again this year. There is no charge to enter. We are looking for cars that make over 500 whp and make some noise. Contact us if this is you. We will be dynoing pre approved cars only. They give us time for maybe 6 cars.
You will need a recent tune, some kind of race gas or be on E-85. Fresh plugs that are gapped well and no boost leaks. You will be famous and the top 5 cars get $100 each for putting on a show. The winned gets announced and a trophy awarded at the raffle ceremony!
LEET Roll Cage Build – Part 2
Here are the next round of pics building Ben’s full roll cage. The last article had the car getting stripped and interior cleaned. The main hoop and basic bars getting bent and tacked into place.
We had dropped the roll cage down off the foot plates to be able to weld all around the tubes up in the roof area. With the upper bars now welded all the way around, the roll cage goes back up on the floor plates and the floor plates get welded in place.
The b-pillars are closed back in now that they have been lightened.
The door bars are taking shape. The driver’s side has the bars extending deep into the door “NASCAR Style”
The passenger side is a lighter more simple “X” design (more…)
LEET Roll Cage Build – Part 1
With all the 600 whp mods Ben has lately, he felt it was time to step up the safety from a bolt-in Autopower 4 point roll bar to a full cage. Here is the transformation:
The first step was to gut the interior. Everything that could be unbolted was unbolted. The dash comes out, carpet, seats, door panels, headliner, wiring and more.
Bryce was enlisted to help. Anything with a Phillips head screw was his responsibility.
Next is to clean and strip any caulking and paint or undercoating where the base plates will get welded into the chassis. We used 1.75″ diameter .120 wall (more…)
Super True Stories From The Track [part II]
Part I is here.
Text by James Singer
Photos by Mike W
Prep
[it isn’t the camera, it is rosacea]
I am a pretty average guy as far as driving cars on the track goes. I am also a pretty average guy in the sense that this economy has taken its toll on my ability to indulge in track days. As a result, I prep my car painstakingly before going to the track to avoid breaks and other disasters. This month, before going to the track I changed out my blown (more…)
Extremespeed AWD Competition – Willow Springs – Round #1
RRE tuned EVOs took first place in both the Street Class and Modified Class of the season opening event in the Extremespeed AWD Challenge Time Attack this last weekend. We brought out the shop truck and tools and an empty trailer for support.
Gevorg took 1st place in Street Class with a 1:33 in his RRE tuned daily driver white EVO 9.
RRE customer Kevin Fairley was fastest in Modified Class at 1:31 in his EVO 9 track car. He recently changed to a BBK Full turbo from CBRD and is pushing 480 whp on E-85 on a stock long block.
Kevin was running with his new side exit exhaust that we just built. It sounds incredible!
Results and points from the day:
Show Time – Tim’s EVO X
Nothing beats watching artists do their craft up close and in person. The work these guys do getting the lighting and angles all lined up never ceases to amaze me. Look for this to be a cover car early next year.
Tim Smith – Spa Time for his EVO X
Tim is in Afghanistan right now but his EVO X is here getting the royal treatment. Got a photoshoot coming up so it is time to scrub it up and lay on the cute. From dirty track ‘ho to beauty queen in 48 hours!
Ken’s 4G Eclipse Spyder
Ken has been a customer forever here @ RRE. He had a clean 1G Eclipse when we first met him. He landed a dream job @ MMSA for a while and used the opportunity to trade up to a 2007 4G Eclipse GT. Ever since he picked it up he has been slowly modding it.
Getting a 2007 Spyder GT V6 with 6 speed manual was tricky. As MMSA continued production into 2007, manual transmission GTs became super rare, they were thinking that people would only want autos. The color is called Ultra Red Pearl and it has the factory aero kit and Premium Package.
Ken had us install a MagnaFlow cat back exhaust and an Injen intake. The 4G GT being a large 3.8 liter V6 has a great burble and rumble to it when you add an aftermarket exhaust system. Mix in the sound from an open intake at full throttle and it is difficult to keep your foot out of the loud pedal :-) We lowered the car with Eibach ProKit springs. Ken went with some super pimp 20″ Giovanna wheels with Goodyear F1 Asymmetrics 245/30/20 to try to fill out the huge wheel wells that come on the 4G Eclipse.
Ken fabbed custom front splitter himself along with the custom carbon side pieces and carbon interior trim, MOMO shift knob and the RRE emblem on the dash finish off the interior nicely.
Ken got a pic in the January issue of Super Street magazine in the Reader’s Rides section!
Heat Protection
Back over the last month we have been tweaking on Ben’s new track car. Remember the pretty red EVO RS on the cover of DSport? That one. With the big manly Borg-Warner EFR Series turbo and loopty-loo manifold hanging out there baking everything for 30 minutes at a time on the road course, some protection from all that heat was in order.
How things looked a month ago:
Ben started with moving the radiator hose away from the manifold. Then we connected the water cooling ports to the twin Tial wastegates to keep the diaphragms cool. We had to re-configure the water pipe and thermostat housing to try to keep the hose routing clean and tee fittings under control. The boost and coolant hoses had to be heat sleeved.
My favorite part is the heat shield that Lod came up with to get the manifold heat up and out of the engine compartment. It is a simple bolt on piece of sheetmetal with some reflective insulation on it. It directs the heat up and out the hood vent before it can bake anything else under the hood. This chopped pic shows it in relation to the hood vent.
The car is getting prepped for Superlap Battle November 8-9 @ Buttonwillow Raceway.
